JANCZUK OUTLASTS HEFTI IN MR. DIRT SPORTSMAN SERIES FLING AT FULTON
Fulton, NY – September 30, 2006 – By Tom Skibinski, DIRT NorthEast PR Director
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Matt Janczuk |
It took an extra day yet Matt Janczuk did’t lose any sleep as he returned Saturday to score the biggest win of his career in the Mr. DIRT Sportsman Series Motorsports Expo ’07 / Gater News Sportsman Victoria Championship at Fulton Speedway. A see-saw battle with current Mr. DIRT points leader Russ Hefti in the caution-free battle over the final 26 laps was also well worth the wait for fans in attendance during day two of the 21st Victoria 200 Championship Weekend.
“I’m really at a loss for words right now, I definitely never expected this today,” said a choked up Janczuk, 22, following the $1,700 victory that was never certain until a handful of circuits remained in the open-wheel event. A track regular last season, the Clockville, N.Y. native closed out Fulton’s ’06 Sportsman campaign with his second straight win in as many starts at the high-banked 3/8-miler. “Tim (Nye, owner) and I have been friends for awhile and he told me anytime I wanted to drive the car we would put a deal together. We won a couple weeks back which gave us a guaranteed start but it’s still gonna take a while for this one to sink in. We got pretty lucky as the track was a lot different than yesterday and we didn’t make many changes but things still worked out for the best.”
The 30-lap Sportsman main actually began on Friday night but a sudden downpour forced track promoter T.J. Fitzgibbons to postpone the remainder of the feature. Outside pole-sitter Hefti out-dragged front row partner Sammy Reakes IV on the initial start and the two stayed ahead of the 30-car field when Brandon Sweet looped his mount in turn three. On the ensuing restart the biggest mishap of the young weekend took place as Billy Shantel, Jr. momentarily slipped high exiting turn two and upon his immediate return to the groove contact with his closest pursuer Shawn Donath forced a chain-reaction by the on-rushing pack.
“Everything happened pretty quick out there, I think Billy got a little loose and after that I had to either keep my foot down or get plowed over,” said 2006 Fulton high point man Donath in the aftermath. A rare red-flag situation unfolded as the track was suddenly blocked by nearly a dozen cars. Within minutes a light sprinkle turned into heavy rain and the cars sitting idle on the track were motioned pitside. The call came at 11:10pm to bring teams back the following day and pick up on lap five.
With more rain possible in the late afternoon forecast, Hefti returned to the point on Saturday with the first green flag falling promptly at 12 noon. Seven drivers failed to return including Scott Schrader, Chris Raabe, Roy Bresnahan, Joe Williamss Jr., John Behron, Jack Meeks and Sweet. Despite no practice afforded the 23 cars that reported trackside, those that did come back put on a quality performance in the non-stop feature that took just 10 minutes to complete.
In quest of his third Series triumph of the ’06 campaign, Hefti was tracked down well before the midway point by Donath and sixth-place starter Janczuk continued in pursuit. Hefti was content to follow a low line and so was Janczuk although Donath remained up top looking for the traction to move ahead with intentions of posting his third straight tour triumph. Janczuk took his first lead after Hefti was forced outside by the lapped car of Shantel on lap 21 and just three circuits later the pair swapped positions when Hefti was able to get back low between turns three and four. Entering turn three on lap 26 Hefti drifted high once again to sweep around Jipp Ortiz. Janczuk was quick to fill the lane low and when the leaders reached the line it was the no. 52x Nye Auto Group-West Entities/Bicknell entry of Janczuk forging the final lead change with four more laps to go. When the checkered flag finally flew, Janczuk and had stretched his advantage to eight car-lengths over Hefti, with Genesee Speedway champion Brian Sage, Donath and Reakes filling in the top-five positions.
Mr. DIRT Sportsman Series Race #8 – Fulton Speedway, Sept. 30, 2006 Motorsports Expo ’07 / Gater News Sportsman Victoria Championship Event Summary
FEATURE (30-laps): 52x-MATT JANCZUK, 0-Russ Hefti, 11j-Brian Sage, 87-Shawn Donath,17k-Sammy Reakes IV, 111-Shane Donath, 5j-Chris Hile, 1j-Jim Spano, 10r-Ryan Richardson, 8-Rob Bellinger, 1x-Casey Williams, 14-Jeremy Pitcher, 1-John Pietrowicz, 19h-Chris Higgins, 08-Mark D’Ilario, 111w-Kevin Wills, 18-Todd Town, p38-Rob Pratt, 9g-Billy Shantel Jr., 0j-Jipp Ortiz, 16-Mike Bowman, 2-Alan Fink, 44c-Gregg Carner, 58-Scott Schrader, 01-Chris Raabe, 02-Roy Bresnahan, 19-Joe Williams Jr., 6j-John Behron, 24-Brandon Sweet, 43j-Jack Meeks.
LAP LEADERS: Hefti (1-20), Janczuk (21-23), Hefti (24-25), Janczuk (26-30).
CAUTIONS: 1 (lap 5); 1 RED FLAG (lap 5).
SYRACUSE SUNOCO CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIER: Matt Janczuk.
DID NOT QUALIFY(30)
00-Ryan Poole
06j-Jordan Bennett
1a-Doug Shattell
2m-John Tesoriero
5n-Tony Steiner
7b-Kevan Cook
8r-Rick Rogala
10-Tim Currier
10g-Ed Grant
10v-Josh VanBrocklin
15w-Roger West Sr.
16h-Nate Higgins
16x-Alan Barker
17d-Tom Juhl
19x-Steve Marshall
21a-Amanda Whitney
21h-Mike Holmes
27-Sheldon Hoogwerf
28f-Jeff Stevenson
42-Mike Lartz
42c-Mike Conrow
54-Mark Chiddy
54x-Stewart Garrison
58L-Jim LaRock
69-Dave Reilley
71-Russ Zimmerman
71c-Tom Collins Jr.
88-Beth Schneider
88w-Brandon Warner
117-Alex Tonkin
QUALIFYING
Heat Races (8 laps, top-3 finishers transferred to feature)
#1: Reakes, Schrader, Shane Donath, J.Williams, Schneider, Reilley, Stevenson, C.Williams, Zimmerman, Ortiz.
#2: Hefti, Shawn Donath, Pietrowicz, LaRock, Wills, Fink, Warner, Whitney, Collins, Poole.
#3: Sage, Hile, Bresnahan, Meeks, D’Ilario, Richardson, West, Bennett, Hoogwerf, Holmes (DNS).
#4: Shantel, Sweet, Behron, VanBrocklin, Barker, Currier, Lartz, Steiner, Shattell, Chiddy.
#5: Pitcher, Bowman, Carner, Pratt, Spano, Bellinger, Town, Rogala, Grant, N.Higgins.
#6: Janczuk, Raabe, C.Higgins, Tesoriero, Conrow, Garrison, Marshall, Juhl, Tonkin, Cook.
Consolation Round (8 laps, top-4 finishers transferred to feature)
#1: J.Williams, C.Williams, Wills, Fink, Collins, Stevenson, Zimmerman, Poole, Whitney, Chiddy, LaRock, Schneider, Warner, Reilley.
#2: Meeks, D’Ilario, Ortiz, Richardson, Barker, West, Currier, VanBrocklin, Bennett, Hoogwerf, Steiner, Shattell, Lartz (DNS), Holmes (DNS).
#3: Pratt, Spano, Bellinger, Town, Conrow, Tesoriero, Garrison, N.Higgins, Rogala, Cook, Grant, Juhl, Tonkin, Marshall.
Mr. DIRT Sportsman Series Point Standings (through Sept. 29, 2006)
Rank No Driver Points Home Track Bonus Wins Top 5 Top 10 Starts
1 0 Russ Hefti 1,727 Cayuga County 1000 2 6 8 8
2 87 Shawn Donath 1,623 Fulton 1000 2 5 6 8
3 12 Brian Sage 1,592 Genesee 1000 0 4 6 8
4 19h Chris Higgins 1,514 Can Am 1000 0 3 5 8
5 0 Jipp Ortiz [R] 1,505 Ransomville 970 0 2 4 8
6 111 Kevin Wills 1,460 Ransomville 980 0 0 4 8
7 O8 Mark D'Ilario [R] 1,431 Merrittville 946 0 2 4 8
8 P38 Rob Pratt 1,411 Ohsweken 1000 1 2 3 6
9 5J Chris Hile 1,386 Fulton 916 0 0 3 8
10 8 Rob Bellinger 1,364 Can Am 970 0 0 2 8
11 24 Brandon Sweet [R]1,360 Thunder Alley 960 0 0 1 8
12 8c Wayne Conn 1,288 Merrittville 1000 0 2 2 4
13 18h Todd Henderson 1,258 Canandaigua 1000 1 1 2 4
14 19 Joe Williams Jr. 1,252 Cayuga County 980 0 0 1 6
15 01 Chris Raabe 1,236 Brockville 1000 0 0 0 5
16 56 Steve Schumacher 1,219 Genesee 970 0 0 1 5
17 58 Scott Schrader 1,197 Canandaigua 946 0 1 1 4
18 71M Mark Potter 1,196 Ransomville 924 0 2 2 4
19 17k Sammy Reakes 1,180 Fulton 980 0 2 2 3
20 10 Tim Currier [R] 1,163 Cayuga County 946 0 0 1 4
21 7 Paul Guererri 1,151 Canandaigua 970 0 0 2 3
22 67g Eric Giguere 1,141 Canandaigua 980 0 1 1 3
23 92 John Behron [R]1,127 Fulton 928 0 0 1 4
24 43J Jack Meeks 1,116 Thunder Alley 1000 0 0 1 2
25 111 Shane Donath 1,114 Fulton 960 0 0 2 2
26 1J Jim Spano 1,102 Cayuga County 916 0 0 1 3
27 5 Don Spatorico 1,100 Ransomville 960 1 1 1 2
28 02 Roy Bresnahan 1,090 Cayuga County 970 0 0 0 3
29 54J Dave Just 1,084 Ransomville 946 0 1 1 2
30 14 Jeremy Pitcher 1,074 Fulton 950 0 0 0 2
31 20 Jeff McGinnis 1,072 Ransomville 1000 0 0 1 1
32 108 Bill Bleich 1,056 Humberstone 980 0 0 1 1
33 00 Ryan Poole 1,045 Brockville 950 0 1 1 1
34 5 Dave Dykstra 1,045 Humberstone 1000 0 0 0 1
35 9 Jason Riddell 1,040 Brockville 960 0 1 1 1
36 99 Anthony Rizzardo 1,040 Merrittville 950 0 1 1 1
37 1 John Pietrowicz 1,036 Fulton 934 0 0 0 2
38 8 Chris Herbison 1,035 Brockville 970 0 0 1 1
39 66 Dan Wiesner 1,033 Canandaigua 938 0 0 0 2
40 54JR Scott Just 1,032 Ransomville 934 0 0 0 2
41 93 Rob Richmond. 1,030 Canandaigua 922 0 0 0 2
42 04 Greg Mrzywka 1,030 Genesee 980 0 0 0 1
43 7 Tom Flannigan 1,028 Humberstone 970 0 0 0 1
44 25 Bobby Herrington 1,026 Brockville 980 0 0 0 1
45 16 Mike J. Bowman 1,025 Fulton 942 0 0 0 2
46 777 Tyler McPherson 1,020 Humberstone 950 0 0 0 1
47 18R Brad Rouse 1,018 Merrittville 914 0 0 1 2
48 20x Kevin Ridley 1,015 Canandaigua 928 0 0 0 2
49 2k Rob Knapp 1,014 Humberstone 960 0 0 0 1
50 8L Phil LaVare 1,012 Canandaigua 950 0 0 0 1
UPCOMING EVENTS:
The 17th Mr. DIRT Sportsman Series begins the final month of open-wheel competition the first week in October as all eyes focus on Super DIRT Week XXXV at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse with three races scheduled during a four-day stretch. Each extra-distance affair offers valuable points towards the overall Hoosier Tire-Sunoco Race Fuels Mr. DIRT Sportsman Championship.
2006 MR. DIRT SPORTSMAN SERIES SCHEDULE
*Show up points only
DAY-DATE LAPS TRACK – LOCATION / WINNER
Mon-Sep 4 30 Rolling Wheels Raceway / RUSS HEFTI
Fri-Sep 8 50 Ransomville Speedway / DON SPATORICO
Sat-Sep 10 40 Genesee Speedway / ROB PRATT
Sun-Sep 10 50 Humberstone Speedway / RUSS HEFTI
Fri-Sep 15 30 Canandaigua Speedway / TODD HENDERSON
Sat-Sep 16 30 Brockville Ontario Speedway / SHAWN DONATH
Sat-Sep 23 30 Rolling Wheels Raceway / SHAWN DONATH
Fri-Sep 30 30 Fulton Speedway / MATT JANCZUK
Wed-Oct 4 30 Can-Am Motorsports Park - LaFargeville,NY
Fri-Oct 6 30 Rolling Wheels Raceway - Elbridge,NY
*Sat-Oct 7 30 New York State Fairgrounds - Syracuse,NY
Sat-Oct 21 50 Orange County Fair Speedway - Middletown,NY
The DIRT MotorSports™ Sportsman Series is brought to fans across the Northeast by several sponsors and partners, including series sponsors Advance Auto Parts, Hoosier Racing Tire and Sunoco Race Fuels. Promotional partners include AMB i.t., DealMaker Auto Group and the University of Northwestern Ohio and the contingency sponsors are Bert Transmission, Bicknell Racing Products, Bilstein Shocks, Brodix Cylinder Heads, DART Machinery, Holley HP Carburetors, Integra Shocks, MSD Ignitions, Miller Electric Manufacturing Company, Penske Shocks and Wrisco Industries.
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